We’ve all been there – trying to access a website, only to be faced with the dreaded captcha. But what if instead of matching stationary letters, ducks or ladders, you could blast demons from hell? That’s the premise of Doom Captcha, a new project that uses the classic first-person shooter to prove that a person isn’t a bot.
Doom Captcha is the brainchild of software engineer and CEO of software developer Vercel Guillermo Rauch, who shared a video of the project on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
“Make sure you’re human by playing DOOM and killing at least three enemies in Nightmare Mode,” Rauch said.
I built https://t.co/ytufa7fiym – check that you are human by playing Doom and killing at least 3 enemies (in nightmare mode)
Powered By Webassembly × libsdl, UI built into @v0 pic.twitter.com/kv6tabjglx
– Guillermo Rauch (@rauchg) December 31, 2024
How does this work?
Using the arrow keys and space bar, players maneuver the old space marine through the maze. Demons will spawn from all directions, and since you’re on Nightmare difficulty, they’ll hit harder.
However, while the controls for Doom Captcha are fairly simple, learning to take on demons, especially in nightmare mode, can be frustrating and end up taking more time than just filling out a regular captcha.
“After four attempts at being an idiot I realized that if I just take a step forward and then back, I can shoot three guys who appear right in front of me and I’m out of the way of enemy fire,” user X responded Rauch’s post.
“Yes, this is a winning move,” Rauch replied. “Don’t go into the fire zone.”
Raunch did not immediately respond to a request for comment DecryptField
Why death?
Launched in 1993 by ID Software, Doom tells the story of a lone space marine who fights his way through a research facility on Mars and into Hell to battle hordes of demons. A massive hit among gamers, Doom became a favorite for experimentation when ID Software made the source code public in 1997.
Making Doom open source has allowed developers to modify and port the game to countless platforms—from lawnmowers and ATMs to Bitcoin and Dogecoin, as well as Chatgpt and even gut bacteria. Whether or not the device can fire the iconic shooter has become a fun trend among engineers and tech enthusiasts, with a Reddit subreddit dedicated to the cause.
“The choice of Doom came from a pre-existing reputation for unconventional gameplay,” MIT Biotech graduate student researcher Lauren “Ren” Ramlan previously said DecryptPaul “I had a great time learning about all the wacky devices people had worked on before and wanted to throw my bioengineering hat into the ring.”
Last January, a Dogecoin pseudonym named Pimax added a playable copy of Doom to the Dogecoin blockchain using the NFT-like Doginals protocol. Like Bitcoin ordinals, Doginals allow users to inscribe media or content onto the smallest units of Dogecoin, making them permanent artifacts on the blockchain.
The list of devices and platforms running Doom continues to grow. In September, the Crypto Gaming Rives project launched the “Doom Olympics,” a chain competition powered by Ethereum Networks and Cartesi, with prizes up to $15,000.
After watching players quickly figure out how to beat the captcha, Rauch hinted at future updates.
“I’m tempted to modify it further to make it harder,” he said.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
